Tissue defects usually result from injuries, aging, disorders or similar factors. The soft tissue defect, such as osteoarthritis, is commonly found in tissue defects. It is well-known to treat osteoarthritis with drug administration (like nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)) to relieve pain and inflammation or with surgery (like abrasion arthroplasty or debridement and lavage) to maintain the smoothness of the joint cartilage tissue surface and avoid joint degeneration from the abrasion between the cartilages in the joint. A severe destructive joint may be surgically replaced with an artificial joint. However, NSAIDs administration may cause side effects, like gastrospasm, diarrhea, ulcer, bleeding, or the like. Meanwhile, surgery may cause complications and the recovery after surgery should be considered.
A treatment of osteoarthritis by implanting osteochondral cells has been suggested. First, a donor's osteochondral cores are purified with a centrifuge to remove blood, lipids or other antigen-like substances or contaminants. The purified osteochondral cells are then implanted into a joint defect region of the receptor for enhancing the cartilage and bone in the defect region to grow and repair itself. The treatment can also reduce the probability of diseases being transferring to receptors.
However, for the purpose of increasing the efficiency of tissue repair and decreasing side effects from surgery and drug administration, developing novel methods and devices for tissue repair is needed.